May 19, 2023 at 7:26 a.m.
Track: Hodag boys 4th, girls 6th at GNCs
Track: Hodag boys 4th, girls 6th at GNCs
The Hodags took fourth on the boys' side and finished sixth in the girls' division of the GNC Meet at IncredibleBank Field.
The Hodag boys' were unable to retain their GNC crown against strong teams from Lakeland, Medford and Northland Pines as they recorded their lowest finish at conference since 2018. The Hodag girls finished sixth in the conference for a second straight year.
Regardless, coach Aaron Kraemer said he was pleased with what he saw from his team on the stopwatch and the tape measure.
"We had a lot of PRs in all of our events and, sometimes, it doesn't shake out on the points side," he said. "I'm really proud of what we were able to accomplish. I'm not in any way, shape or form in a bad mood about what we were able to do. We had some really special performances today."
The Hodags ended up with three conference champions on the day and 12 entries that received all-conference honors by placing in the top three.
Freshman Aila Bergman edged Mosinee's Taelyn Jirschele in a photo finish to win the conference title in the 300-meter hurdles, doing so in a conference-record time of 47.47 seconds. Bergman also was part of a win for the Hodag girls' in the 4x400-meter relay and took fourth in the triple jump on Tuesday.
It ended up being a solid day for Bergman after a false start cost her a chance to place in the 100-meter hurdles.
"To be able to bounce back, that's the mark of a true competitor to be able to do that after the letdown," Kraemer said."Aila is just something special. All year long she's been improving in the hurdles. Really, it's just been the way she attacks them in the 300, trying to take a few stutters away and hit everything clean. When she has a clean race, she really is special in that race."
On the boys' side, senior Kaleb Winter posted a personal-best height of 12 feet, 6 inches to win the pole vault by a half foot over favorite Gage Losiewicz of Medford. Winter added a fifth-place showing in the long jump and was sixth in the triple jump, but the pole vault was the highlight of his evening.
"All it took was just getting on that new pole, being able to crunch it a little bit and use the pole to his advantage. He did that today and you saw the benefits of that," Kraemer said. "I'm really, really proud of him, his last conference meet and he was a warrior today. He PRed in all three of his events. For him to jump in the 19s in the long jump and darn near 39 feet in the triple, place in all three of his events and PR, what a time to PR for a senior."
Rhinelander ran away to a resounding victory in the girls' 4x400 as Reese Gehrig, Bergman, Luna Grage and Gussie Gruett ran it in 4 minutes, 24.36 -winning the event by nearly 17 seconds over runner-up Medford.
"When Gussie got the baton, I kind of looked down the way where everything was and they were still rounding the turn and getting on the home stretch," Kraemer said. "Then Gussie had a great time. Between the four of them, really, really well done. Aila was a part of that. Luna had a great day today in the 4x8 and some PRs and Gussie finished her last conference meet the way she wanted to, at the top of the podium."
Freshman Libbey Buchmann scored a pair of runner-up finishes in the throws for the Hodag girls. She had a toss of 32 feet in the shot put and, after barely sneaking into the finals in the discus, uncorked a throw of 104-11 to end up in second.
"Her taking second in both events as a freshman, that's pretty special," Kraemer said. "I know she wants to push to sectionals, for sure, and try to get to state. I think she's got what it takes to do it."
The Hodag boys had a quartet of individual third-place finishes on the day. Junior Abe Barlog scored the first of them, earning honorable mention in the GNC in the 110-meter hurdles (18.84).
"He's been working very hard to get to the podium and he deserves the honor," Kraemer said. "He got into the 18s and I know he's a guy that wants to push, by the time he's a senior to get down into the 17s and the 16s. Since I've been here, there's only a couple of guys that have done that."
Greyson Gremban, who scored the conference-championship clinching points for the Hodags last year in the 3,200, bettered his finishing that event this year. He came home third with a personal-best time of 10:31.27.
"He doesn't look at is as a third place, he looks at it as a PR," Kraemer said. "The thing he said walking off the track was, 'Six points for my team.' That's the kind of guy we look for in our races. That's the kind of team guy we look for in track. He's definitely that. He's got a special attitude."
Senior Shane Petrick got off a big jump of 19-7 3/4 in the finals to take third in the long jump. He led three Hodags in the finals in that event. Winter finish fifth and Truman Lamers was ninth.
"Shane Petrick popping off a 19-7 in the long jump. He's only been around (in track) for two years, but has incredible athletic ability. You see him move on a soccer pitch and he truly is a specimen and a great guy, too," Kraemer said.
Sophomore Truman Lamers added a third-place finish in the high jump (5-10). He added fifth-place effort in the triple jump.
"For Truman, it wasn't what he wanted today, but he's done a lot of jumping over the last six weeks in a short amount of time," Kraemer noted. "Today I think it caught up with him a little bit. We want to give him a little bit of a rest."
The Hodags had four relays earn honorable mention. Juliana Smith, Maria Hubler, Brynn Teter and Grage took third in the girls' 4x800; Gehrig, Lexi Bishop, Millie Gruett and Maddie Legrey were third in the girls' 4x100; Payton Campbell, Ben Olson, Sam Zwaard and Mason Baker were third in the boys' 4x100 and Olson, Jackson Fuss, Daniel Gillingham and Cody Ruetz took third in the boys' 4x400.
Dresden Klaver added a fourth for Rhinelander in the 110 hurdles and was fifth in the boys' 300 hurdles, Callie Hoerchler was fourth in the girls' high jump, Conner Jensen was fifth in the boys' discus, Mya Swanson was fifth in the 100 hurdles and Eva Heck took fourth in the high jump.
Lakeland edged Medford 184-150 for the boys' title. Northland Pines took third with 134.5 points. Rhinelander was a distant fourth with 103 points. On the girls' side, Mosinee beat Medford by just under 22 points for the conference crown.
"We knew that Medford was strong. We knew that Pines was strong. Lakeland we hadn't really seen all year long. We hadn't seen their whole team. Looking at the numbers we knew they had strong distance and the did a great job in their sprints today, and in the field events. They deserved the conference championship on the boys' side," Kraemer said. "On their girls' side, Mosinee's very classy. They have a good group of girls that have been around for several years. They definitely deserve it too."
With the exception of Antigo, the Hodags will see the rest of the GNC Monday in a WIAA D2 regional track meet in Colby. Stanley-Boyd will join host Colby as part of that eight-team field.
"Our job in the next 48 hours is to get all of our athletes recovered and then, in 72 hours, figuring out the best possible combinations for our athletes to make it (to sectionals)," Kraemer said. "The regional is about getting as many kids through as you possibly can. The entries change a little bit. The strategy changes a little bit, and what we do changes a little bit."
The top four finishers in each event at regionals will advance to next Thursday's sectional round in Arcadia.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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